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France going socialist, helps or hurts Euro?

France going socialist, helps or hurts Euro?

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Sleepyguy
Reepy Rastardly Guy

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Originally posted by sonhouse
This has got to have some effect on the Euro I would think, and the bailout packages set for Greece, Spain and so forth. What do you think? The elections in Greece may derail the whole bailout idea.
This is going to be interesting. When Merkel tells Hollande to talk to the hand and taxing the rich won't make the math work, that's still going to leave a lot of austerity for the French to absorb. I predict burning cars.

K

Germany

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07 May 12

Originally posted by normbenign
Is that the general trend? Or are these aberrations. If government will give me everything I need to live, free, why would I work?
The general trend is that the high-tax Northern European governments have sounder finances than the lower-tax southern societies.

If government will give me everything I need to live, free, why would I work?

Because you're no freeloader and you would rather earn your own living than intentionally (without seeking a job) live off the work of others? I don't need to work and I can get indefinite unemployment benefits until I die, but why would I want to live like that?

K

Germany

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Originally posted by Sleepyguy
This is going to be interesting. When Merkel tells Hollande to talk to the hand and taxing the rich won't make the math work, that's still going to leave a lot of austerity for the French to absorb. I predict burning cars.
Knowing the French, you might as well predict croissants and red wine.

Sleepyguy
Reepy Rastardly Guy

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Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Knowing the French, you might as well predict croissants and red wine.
OK. I predict fewer croissants, less wine, and more burning cars.

finnegan
GENS UNA SUMUS

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Originally posted by normbenign
"Hollande has said that he will raise taxes for people who make over €1 mil, but shouldn't that be more like €70k to be more than just a symbolic drop in the ocean?"

The premise for this has to be that a socialist government is better able to manage money than people who earned it. As that threshold gets lower and lower, and taxes higher, there is lit ...[text shortened]... r half of the 19th century, that government expertise is any better than market distribution?
Norway is a good start.

rwingett
Ming the Merciless

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08 May 12
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Originally posted by sonhouse
This has got to have some effect on the Euro I would think, and the bailout packages set for Greece, Spain and so forth. What do you think? The elections in Greece may derail the whole bailout idea.
If Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA can form a coalition then there may be a small sliver of hope that the neo-liberal new world order will be defeated after all. But it's a small sliver. If the elite agenda is seriously threatened in any way, they'll probably just stage a coup and carry on with business as usual.

rwingett
Ming the Merciless

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Originally posted by rwingett
If Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA can form a coalition then there may be a small sliver of hope that the neo-liberal new world order will be defeated after all. But it's a small sliver. If the elite agenda is seriously threatened in any way, they'll probably just stage a coup and carry on with business as usual.
Apparently no one has been able to form a coalition. The sides seem to be drawn pretty tightly between those who reject the austerity package and those Quislings who feel they are bound to honor it. More elections may be forthcoming.

Kunsoo

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10 May 12
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Originally posted by sonhouse
This has got to have some effect on the Euro I would think, and the bailout packages set for Greece, Spain and so forth. What do you think? The elections in Greece may derail the whole bailout idea.
It will be good for the Euro in the long run, because now the policies will be focused on economic development rather than obsession with debt. The voters pretty much tossed out austerity.

Hollande is a pragmatist however, as is Merkel. They'll work out a more gradual spending cut scenario while working on stimulus in the short term - as it should have been done to begin with.

What conservatives often fail to understand about macroeconomics is that if sudden and large spending cuts recess the economy, the debt problem is actually exacerbated.

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